In short, I am trying to work out whether or not to get Surviving Mars now (during the release sale) or whether it is one to put on my "get eventually in a sale" sort of thing.
Okay, forgive me if I ramble a bit to get to my point, as it my wont.
(I have not been following the game closely, and it's really only because I frequent the PDX forums I know about it at all, so I will have to ask you for your forebarance on my ignorance.)
I like city-builders, but, in my old age, I find myself very story/goal-orientated and that sandboxes (and open worlds) just don't hold me interest for long (achivements, though, don't don't do anything to drive me, ironically).
Let me elucidate.
I like the old Tilted Mill city-builders, with their campaigns and have worked through them all (or am, periodically, in the case of Emperor and Zeus). Tropico 4 was very much my speed - I played the hell out of that, doing all the campaigns and the single missions. Ditto for Anno 1404 and 2070; but in none of the aforementioned did I touch the "skirmish mode." (As it the case with most of the RTS I have played over the years.)
I've played Banished, I've played Cities: Skylines; one of the first PC games I had was SimCity 2000 (which I played for quite a while) and I have SimCity 3 somewhere, but I always seem to find that I will play for a few hours, but not find myself wanting to come back again next day. (Don't get me wrong, both Banished and Skylines in particular are good games - the latter blows the SimCities out of the water, even - but the lack of a "story," as it were, means my enthusiasm to carry on wanes that much more quickly.)
Now, I get on very well with the other PDX grand strats, but I think part of that is, despite being sandbox-y that's because there's an "end point" in the timeframe, which is itself a goal to work towards (or the crisis in Stellaris).
Despite what I said about Tropico 4, I avoided 5 (and only last year as a present got Anno 2203) because they only had that main sand-box-y game (which I figured I am likely to play just once).
As daft as it is, then (though perhaps no more daft than other people with achievements), I sort of think I need that "game over" screen to work towards (a "hard cap" as it were, rather than a "soft-cap," or at least some sort of story to "complete."
(Worth noting that, despite appreciating that most games allow you to carry on after the offical "end point," I find my interest in carrying on that game drops sharply off after it; often the case I found with Civ, for example.)
So, then. Where does Surviving Mars fall within this sort of thing? To my knowledge, there's no campaign and such (nor plans to have one), I know that. but there are, I understand, the mysteries. So, my question then becomes, how much story is there in the mysteries? Are we talking, like a few minutes' worth over the course of the game, or is it basically unlocking some different techs?
Perhaps it would be better to ask, are the mysteries plus the varous starting conditions/locations more akin to the sort of thing you'd get in (say, as probably the most pertinent example) a Tropico 4 mission/ scenario? Or failing that, is there a sort of "end point?" How long might a "typical" run with a mystery take, for example, or how long do people tend to play before deciding it's "done?"
(I appreciate this might be a daft question to ask one day after release, but given the apparent number of youtube playthrough I've seen mentioned, I figured folk might have some idea!)
I'm asking all this pincipally because it will determine whether Surviviing Mars is likely to hold my interest for a good chunk of time or only for a relatively short while (like Cities: Skylines or Banished). And thus whether to take advantage of the release sale or whether it would be better (given the play-time to pennies ratio) for me to hold off for a sale sometime down the line (as I am (for rare occasion) not short of stuff to buy and play at the moment).
(And I'm asking the community, rather than going to watch a lot of youtube videos since a) no spoilers and b) extended youtube let's plays are not something I generally have time for.)
I would be grateful for the one or two of you that read through all that, if you could enlighten me!
Okay, forgive me if I ramble a bit to get to my point, as it my wont.
(I have not been following the game closely, and it's really only because I frequent the PDX forums I know about it at all, so I will have to ask you for your forebarance on my ignorance.)
I like city-builders, but, in my old age, I find myself very story/goal-orientated and that sandboxes (and open worlds) just don't hold me interest for long (achivements, though, don't don't do anything to drive me, ironically).
Let me elucidate.
I like the old Tilted Mill city-builders, with their campaigns and have worked through them all (or am, periodically, in the case of Emperor and Zeus). Tropico 4 was very much my speed - I played the hell out of that, doing all the campaigns and the single missions. Ditto for Anno 1404 and 2070; but in none of the aforementioned did I touch the "skirmish mode." (As it the case with most of the RTS I have played over the years.)
I've played Banished, I've played Cities: Skylines; one of the first PC games I had was SimCity 2000 (which I played for quite a while) and I have SimCity 3 somewhere, but I always seem to find that I will play for a few hours, but not find myself wanting to come back again next day. (Don't get me wrong, both Banished and Skylines in particular are good games - the latter blows the SimCities out of the water, even - but the lack of a "story," as it were, means my enthusiasm to carry on wanes that much more quickly.)
Now, I get on very well with the other PDX grand strats, but I think part of that is, despite being sandbox-y that's because there's an "end point" in the timeframe, which is itself a goal to work towards (or the crisis in Stellaris).
Despite what I said about Tropico 4, I avoided 5 (and only last year as a present got Anno 2203) because they only had that main sand-box-y game (which I figured I am likely to play just once).
As daft as it is, then (though perhaps no more daft than other people with achievements), I sort of think I need that "game over" screen to work towards (a "hard cap" as it were, rather than a "soft-cap," or at least some sort of story to "complete."
(Worth noting that, despite appreciating that most games allow you to carry on after the offical "end point," I find my interest in carrying on that game drops sharply off after it; often the case I found with Civ, for example.)
So, then. Where does Surviving Mars fall within this sort of thing? To my knowledge, there's no campaign and such (nor plans to have one), I know that. but there are, I understand, the mysteries. So, my question then becomes, how much story is there in the mysteries? Are we talking, like a few minutes' worth over the course of the game, or is it basically unlocking some different techs?
Perhaps it would be better to ask, are the mysteries plus the varous starting conditions/locations more akin to the sort of thing you'd get in (say, as probably the most pertinent example) a Tropico 4 mission/ scenario? Or failing that, is there a sort of "end point?" How long might a "typical" run with a mystery take, for example, or how long do people tend to play before deciding it's "done?"
(I appreciate this might be a daft question to ask one day after release, but given the apparent number of youtube playthrough I've seen mentioned, I figured folk might have some idea!)
I'm asking all this pincipally because it will determine whether Surviviing Mars is likely to hold my interest for a good chunk of time or only for a relatively short while (like Cities: Skylines or Banished). And thus whether to take advantage of the release sale or whether it would be better (given the play-time to pennies ratio) for me to hold off for a sale sometime down the line (as I am (for rare occasion) not short of stuff to buy and play at the moment).
(And I'm asking the community, rather than going to watch a lot of youtube videos since a) no spoilers and b) extended youtube let's plays are not something I generally have time for.)
I would be grateful for the one or two of you that read through all that, if you could enlighten me!